We examine racial discrimination in the New Deal by examining access to work relief. The Federal Government prohibited racial discrimination in work relief programs. However, eligibility was determined by local and state administrators. We estimate Black-white gaps in work relief access separately by county. The results show that about 40 percent of Blacks resided in counties with equal or better access than similar whites. Access for Black men was much worse in the South. We find that Black access was better in areas where Black and white workers were complementary and where more public and private resources were available.
Authors
- Acknowledgements & Disclosure
- We would like to thank Shawn Kantor, Marianne Wanamaker, Trevon Logan, John Parman, and Paul Rhode for sharing data. We benefited from the comments of participants in the 2022 Japan Socio-Economic History Society Meetings, the University of Arizona Economics 2020 Summer Workshop, the University of Victoria 2020 workshop, the IPUMS 2021 Data Intensive Research Projects, the NBER Summer Institute, the Yale Conference on Resilience in Economic History, the Virtual Economic History Seminar Sponsored by the EHA and the Cliometrics Society, LERA 2019 Session at the ASSA meetings, 2018 Social Science History Meetings, and the 2018 World Economic History Conference. We received valuable feedback from Dan Herbst, Maggie Jones, Shawn Kantor, Juan Pantano, and Tiemen Woutersen. The authors have no current relevant financial relationships or funding sources to disclose. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3386/w32681
- Pages
- 55
- Published in
- United States of America
Table of Contents
- NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES 1
- LOCAL ADMINISTRATION AND RACIAL INEQUALITY IN FEDERAL PROGRAM ACCESS INSIGHTS FROM NEW DEAL WORK RELIEF 1
- Price V. Fishback Jessamyn Schaller Evan J. Taylor 1
- Working Paper 32681 httpwww.nber.orgpapersw32681 1
- NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge MA 02138 July 2024 1
- Price V. Fishback Department of Economics University of Arizona Tucson AZ 85721 and TIAA-CREF Institute and also NBER pfishbackeller.arizona.edu 2
- Jessamyn Schaller Robert Day School of Economics and Finance Claremont McKenna College 500 E Ninth St Claremont CA 91711 and NBER jschallercmc.edu 2
- Evan J. Taylor Department of Economics University of Arizona Tucson AZ 85718 evantaylorarizona.edu 2
- 1. Introduction 3
- 2. Background 7
- 3. The Labor Market for Black and White Workers Before and During the New Deal 11
- 4. County by County Estimation with Individual Data 14
- R ฮฒ ฮฒ Black X ฮฒ ฮต 15
- R Black 15
- 4.1 Selection into the Pool of Eligible Workers 16
- 4.2 Black-White Differences in Access to Work-Relief 17
- 5. Political Economic and Demographic Factors That Influenced the Differences in Black 18
- Access to Work Relief 18
- ๐ด๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ผ ๐ผ ๐ ๐ผ ๐๐๐ข๐กโ ๐ 20
- ๐ด๐๐๐๐ ๐ 20
- ๐ต๐๐๐๐ 20
- 5.1 Political and Economic Power of the Black Population 21
- 5.2 Discriminatory Attitudes 22
- 5.3 Occupational Distribution 23
- 5.4 Economic Status of White Households 24
- 5.5 Economic Activity 25
- 5.6 Party Politics 26
- 5.7 Availability of Government Resources 26
- 5.8 Population and Foreign-Born 28
- 6. Conclusion and Discussion 29
- Brown v. Board of Education 32
- Appendix A - Sources of Political Economy Variables 33
- Appendix B Construction of Lynching data 34
- References 36
- American Economic Journal Public Policy 36
- Journal of Labor Economics 36
- Southern Paternalism and the American Welfare State 36
- Economics Politics and the Institutions of the South 1865-1965. 36
- The Pursuit of Fairness A History of Affirmative Action. 36
- Inventory of Southern Lynch Victims as of 12 August 2021 36
- The Economics of Discrimination Public Relief 1929-1939. 36
- The Political Status of the Negro in the Age of FDR 36
- Quarterly Journal of Economics 36
- American Economic Review 36
- Security Work and Relief Policies 1942. 36
- Explorations in Economic History 36
- NAACP Branches Officers and Membership 36
- 1912-1964. 36
- Annual Report of the Civilian Conservation Corps Fiscal Year 36
- Ended June 30 1940 36
- Final Report of the National 36
- Youth Administration Fiscal Years 1936-1943 36
- First Annual Report Federal Works Agency Fiscal Year Ended 36
- June 30 1940. 36
- Research in Economic History 37
- Fear Itself 37
- Labor History 37
- Explorations in Economic History 37
- Journal of Economic History. 37
- Journal of Urban Economics. 37
- Journal of Labor Economics 37
- Prologue Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration 37
- The WPA and Federal Relief Policy 37
- Fear Itself The New Deal and the Origins of Out Time. 37
- Shifting the Color Line Race and the American Welfare State. 37
- Journal of 37
- Economic History 37
- Journal of 37
- Economic History 37
- Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency 1930-1970. 37
- 2d.edition. 37
- Executive Order No. 7046. 37
- The Negros Share A Study of Income Consumption Housing and 38
- Public Assistance. 38
- Corruption and Reform 38
- The Black Cabinet The Untold Story of African Americans and Politics During 38
- Final Report on the WPA Program 1935-43 38
- Table 1 39
- Table 2 40
- Table 3 41
- Table 4 42
- Table 5 43
- Table 6 44
- Figure 1 45
- Figure 2 46
- Figure 3 47
- Figure 4 48
- Figure 5 49
- Figure 6 50
- Appendix C Additional Tables and Figures 51
- Table C1 51
- Figure C1 52
- Figure C2 53
- Figure C3 54
- Figure C4 55
- Non-South South 55
